Finance Reforms Pared Back

White House to Preserve Regulators but Seek Tougher Rules; Avoiding a Political Battle

By

Damian Paletta

Updated June 9, 2009 11:59 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON -- The Obama administration is backing away from seeking a major reduction in the number of agencies overseeing financial markets, people familiar with the matter say, suggesting that the current alphabet-soup of regulators will remain mostly intact.

Administration officials had suggested they might push for major regulatory consolidation in the wake of the financial crisis. But now they expect to call for most existing...